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harrymcc writes "This week's news that Apple is suing Samsung over the similarities of the latter's Galaxy phones and tablets to the iPhone and iPad inspired me to try to document all the court cases involving mobile patents (as well as some related relationships such as licensing agreements) in one infographic. I wonder what sort of technological wonders the companies involved could come up with if they took all the money they're giving to lawyers and spent it on R&D instead?"

My thought exactly. I didn't even detect a hint of hostility in this article... it had more of a matter-of-fact "isn't this cool" vibe to it.

And it's not entirely accurate... there are so many patents out there that they license all kinds of stuff off each other, but I think they this chart reflects the really noteworthy relationships in an effective manner.

At least the lawyers are happy about it. This sort of thing drives innovation in the field of lawsuits. Granted the consumer doesn't get to see anything, but you can be sure that behind every lawsuit there are a ton of happy lawyers.

Nice graph, but it contains duplicate data. A right-triangle chart would contain the same information, and be easier to read due to the lack of duplicate data being visualized.Everything above and including the diagonal is unneeded.ie:1 \2 . \3 . P \4 X . S \. 1 2 3 4

All depends on what you define as "eating their lunch". No one Android phone has come close to matching one iPhone model in sales. And Android is only slightly ahead when looking at the whole world smartphone market. Android is slightly further ahead here in the US, likely due to the AT&T exclusivity that has now ended. Overall phone market, Apple is not in the lead units wise (nor is any smartphone), but profit and revenue wise, Apple is ahead.

And, you have to consider that "Android" is a platform, not a specific device. Comparing "Android devices" to "iOS devices" is the more accurate measure, and the smartphone sales numbers conveniently leave out the tens of millions of iPads and iPod touches that have been sold to date.

If you want to look at smartphone market share, Apple is the largest single manufacturer of smartphones by volume, by a wide margin, and also the most profitable. "All Android smartphones together (how many dozens of models i

It's been messy for sure. Nokia has enjoyed suing anyone they can, forcing the newer mobile companies like Apple to countersue. Same for Kodak, and I thought I remembered RIM suing a bunch of others over wireless email.

Then you have Apple going after HTC, Motorola and now Samsung due to Android. Microsoft is being their normal selves, and even Oracle didn't want to be left out. What a mess.

Apple has no friends because they are (for better or worse) setting the standard in the mobile space. And Android fans, before you dash off a reply filled with breathless indignation, consider that the mobile space is larger than "smartphone share". Apple is the largest single manufacturer of smartphones & tablets, and also the most profitable manufacturer, and still holds the lead when you consider "all iOS devices," rather than just "smartphones." Everybody wants a piece of that pie.

It sort of defeats the purpose of R&D if you're not going to defend that R&D with lawyers.

That's the lawyerish point of view. To normal human beings, that would be: "It sort of defeats the purpose of R&D if you're not going to make products based on that R&D." Who cares about keeping lawyers employed, other than the lawyers themselves?

Are you referring to the black rectangular slate with a grid of icons Apple is suing Samsung over? Why is this copying Apple, when black rectangular slates and grids of icons have existed before the iPhone both separately and in tandem? I'm sure many people have seen this image, but it seems to invalidate anything Apple has to say about owning the slate form factor/grid of icons UI.

I think Apple's suit is utterly without merit, but you are trolling or stupid.

From the accompanying article, "the graphic is in error, as Samsung only mentioned plans for the new phone in 2006. It wasn't actually shown until February 2007 at the 3GSM World Congress, held a month after the iPhone's debut. It did not go on sale at that time."

Is Qualcomm. Every other company has an arrow or a red face in their row. So the takeaway is that you must be ready to be in court if you want to play. I think that's the point of all the anti-patent folks - it's just too hard to do anything in this climate. I'm sure Qualcomm has been there too, their lawyers are just on vacation right now.

Surprisingly, corporate counsel (where you have a big company like this, and they have full-time, salaried staff lawyers) isn't really that expensive to use to file a lawsuit. Compared to the R&D expenses, lawsuits really aren't that expensive if you already have a full-time lawyer (or many) on staff.

Google should create a defensive patent pool for Android.Basically the idea is that any company partnering with Google on Android can join the pool.

Joining the pool means that you agree not to sue any member of the pool for patent violations connected to Android products. But in return, you get the right to use patents from any member of the pool as a defensive weapon in the event that a non-pool-member sues you for patent violations connected to Android products.